1st Blogiversary, Life Update & Reading Rush FAILURE | June/July Wrap-Up

HELLO!

I hope all of you have been well. I haven’t been posting again for a couple of weeks because of a few things, but first to start with a bang –

HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY TO ME!!!

I cannot believe that I’ve been blogging for a whole year already – like it’s crazy! To be fair, I’ve taken a lot of breaks but at the end of the day and what’s also my goal and hope for this blog is that while consistency and routine are nice, I want to blog and review books and open discussions when I want to and most importantly when I can.

Health should always come first and no one should be stressed over social media and invisible blogging obligations. I’m happy to not push myself too hard when I’m not feeling well and if that means I don’t publish content 3x a week, every week like I would in a perfect world, then it’s perfectly okay. I’m so proud of myself for having been a blogger and writing my heart out on this platform for 12 months after so much work in creating this blog. Juggling work, uni, blogging, reading and my new hobbies of gaming & journalling (more on that later but god help me I have too many hobbies now), has been tricky while trying to look after myself but this cool milestone shows that even with ups and downs – I CAN do it. That means that so can you 🙂

The last 12 months have seen so much change and greatness, including the blog itself where I did a small rebrand, I got my own affiliate link, I joined the Asian Reading Challenge, wrote about some cool discussion topics I really care about and I actually reviewed a bunch of books!

Life Update & Reading Rush FAIL

A month ago, inspiration struck me to get super organised and I went on a shopping trip to MUJI and got myself a cute undated diary and blank notebook to create my kind of bullet journal and a separate reading journal! I had a lot of fun planning my month in July and creating a spread for my reading goal for 2019 and my readathon TBR pages. My diary is kind of a bullet journal because it’s got the bare minimum already printed – which I love. There’s a monthly box spread in one section and in the main diary part; a weekly spread on one side of the page and blank grid on the other so I’ve been adding habit trackers, gratitude logs and more! I hope to actually do a flip through of my journals sometime soon when I have the time.

Unfortunately, my journal and the readathons I was doing were put to a halt. Halfway through July, when I was finishing up the Biannual Bibliothon and the Reading Rush was about to begin. I found out that a close family member passed away. I won’t get into it (privacy and effort) but it’s been hard. I couldn’t continue with the routine I had started of creating my weekly spread every Sunday and actually reading. I’m basically in a bit of a slump at the moment because I started reading like 4 books for the readathons and never finished them, therefore removing myself from the Reading Rush contention.

After this wrap-up though, this is where I’m trying to get organised again and I plan to get my diary and journals done for August – especially because University starts next week and I’ll be extremely busy. I can’t even guarantee that I’ll read or blog because I’m loving the games I’m playing at the moment whenever I have spare and can actually do something other than stare at my bookshelves like a weird book hungry robot. Grieving is hard and it’s different for everybody so I’m trying to take things one step at a time and let myself feel feelings.

Other Smol Updates

Trying to look after yourself is hard, and it’s why I’m all the more excited to be one of the bloggers that will be involved in Kat’s lovely new project, The Bibliosmile Project! I have no idea what I’ll write about just yet but I hope that it’ll help me and others to smile a little more, and more importantly, kick mental illness out of my room.

I also did a cool Library Haul to get some more graphic novels and short books to increase my reading morale. Finishing a book feels good so reading some shorter books will hopefully get me back into reading again. AND I completely rearranged my room including moving my bed, bookshelves and other furniture. A totally new space to inspire me.

OH, and I don’t have PINK HAIR ANYMORE! To save money and look a bit more professional for a work event, I thought it was time and I traded in my pink locks for some ash brown ones that I’m actually very happy with. Check my Instagram if you want to see how it turned out.

Let’s get on to celebrating the small wins and what I read in the last two months (since I didn’t do a wrap-up for June because I came back from my other hiatus halfway through the month.)!

What I Read in June

Total Books: 6 (so proud of myself AH)

Total Pages: 1,442

Losing the Plot by Elizabeth Coleman

★☆☆☆☆(1/5) | DNF – REVIEW ON GR

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

★★★★☆(4/5) | REVIEW 

Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer

★★★★★(4.7/5) | REVIEW

Paper Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

★★★★☆(4/5) | SERIES RTC

Paper Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan

★★★★☆(4/5) | SERIES RTC

Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman

★★★☆☆(2.75/5) | RTC

What I Read in July

Total Books: 4

Total Pages: 993

Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

★★★★☆(4/5) | RTC

Paper Girls Vol.3 by Brian K. Vaughan

★★★★☆(4/5) | SERIES RTC 

Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire (Biannual Bibliothon)

★★★★☆(4.75/5) | SERIES MINI-REVIEWS TO COME

Monstress Vol. 1 by Marjorie Liu (Biannual Bibliothon)

★★☆☆☆(3/5) | RTC

Blogging Highlights

I’m really proud of posts I write that aren’t just book reviews, I’d appreciate any feedback and discussion 🙂 Also, Samantha is awesome.

How To Write A Book Review | My Book Review Writing Guide

My Good Reading Habits

The Art of Blog Monetisation: Making Money From Blogging, Affiliate Links & More

Golden Mid-Year Book Awards | It’s AWARD SEASON: My Mid-Year Favourites

BookTube Babble: An Interview with Samantha of Thoughts on Tomes

What I Watched in June/July

I got to watch some favourites again while being a hermit in my comfy cocoon, including enjoying the next season of Stranger Things, which was pretty freaking awesome!

Stranger Things Season 3

★★★★★

My First First Love Season 1

★★★☆☆

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

★★★★★

Easy A

★★★★★

What I’ll Definitely Watch in June/July: 

Not too sure just yet, I’m always up for a B99 binge though.

My August TBR

I have no set TBR because I’m slumpin’! I’ll be trying to read what I can when I can in August, probably until the beginning of November because of 12 hellish weeks of university and an upcoming holiday to South Korea! Am I excited? for Uni, no, for Korea YES. My first proper holiday in a long time!

When was the last time you went on a holiday?

Until next time,